Supply the Love: Sierra Leone
In 2017 we launched Supply the Love! We supply the camera and film and you supply the love. We would love to have you be an ambassador of Print the Love! If you are traveling to an under-resourced community anywhere on the globe in the next year and would like to participate in spreading random photo kindness to the local people, lets chat! Together we can make a difference! Application is online.
The Supply the Love program is 100% supported by donors. If you are not travelling, you can still donate funds towards the camera and film for those who are.
As part of the program, we ask that ambassadors write a short description of their experience. All the words are their own.
Check out other self-trekking ambassadors’ experiences on our blog! Like Sharon in Haiti, Laura in Israel, Nathan in Puerto Rico, Allison in Kenya, Kelsey in Guatemala, Anne in Tanzania, Dan in Malawi, Krystal in Argentina, Cindy in Haiti, Lea in Cambodia and more!
Josephine in Sierra Leone
Planning an overseas trip to Sierra Leone for group of nine took quite the effort. The logistics of where to stay, how to get around and when to make time for all the wonderful things I wanted my family to experience was definitely an exercise in creative thinking and perseverance. You see, this was the first trip home with the littles (ages 5, 8 and 10), with both my husband and sister in law and my mother and with only seven days, it was important that they get to see and experience all the things I love about my country, the people and the culture. It was important for them to better understand where we come from, who we are deeply and why we need to stay connected from afar.
One amazing opportunity to do just that was to visit Queen of the Rosary School (QRS) in Bo, Sierra Leone. This beautiful, all girls’ school is my mom’s alma mater and the only quality education opportunity available to girls in the area. Student come from villages over four hours away and have to stay on campus during the school year to attend because of the lack of transportation options to visit home. On-campus boarding is one of the many needs school leadership continue to navigate and respond to ensure that girls have access and stay enrolled at QRS. Girls in Sierra Leone face some of the worst life outcomes; including early marriages, early pregnancies, rape and abuse, and lack of financial independence.
QRS provides a safe and supportive educational setting for girls to be just girls, to be students preparing for their future and to be themselves in a protected space. Our visit to QRS included a tour of the campus, a visit to a few classrooms where we got a beautiful presentation of the school song, and lunch provided by the school’s catering group, a social enterprise project where the older students cook delicious Sierra Leone’s cuisine while building up their culinary skills and creating a revenue stream for the school and for themselves.
Chella and Audrey, had a blast capturing the beautiful smiles of the students and could have stayed on campus all day as photographers. The students did not shy away from group shots, individual portraits or capturing daily school activities and in many cases called the girls over with requests. Watching the photo come to resolution was part of the excitement for both student and photographer and a great way of educating our girls about the value of the space and the education being provided to the students in the photo.
My family is beyond grateful we were able to bring print the love along for our trip. The opportunity to engage and connect with others through photography allowed us to deepen our experience at the school and with the students. The gift of leaving the photos behind was the cherry on top.
Thank you for the opportunity,
Josephine
